Leptin and Ghrelin, the mysterious hormones related to weight loss and weight gain
I am going to start this blog by saying this.
The current struggles with weight loss and weight management
has become a very serious topic. The health status in this country continues to
plummet and every physician should be setting out to tackle the obesity
epidemic.
Again, I said every physician or health advocate should be
setting out to tackle this epidemic…
NOT,
every direct marketing connoisseur that is out to make a
quick buck and get 7000 people under them so they can get a FREE BMW or
whatever, by selling some miracle product with green coffee beans, Garcinia cambogias,
acai berries, fat incinerators, metabolism boosters, etc.
If you are dead set that some weight loss pill is going to
give you the results you want, you should stop reading now. To fully understand
weight loss, you have to detach yourself from the thinking that you just need
something to help boost your metabolism or just to eat less calories.
I apologize for that rant, but this is an important subject,
and I get approached about three times a week with a new miracle pill and these
sales persons just refuse to listen to the truths about scientific weight
management.
Weight management is a very complex subject, and if you do
not try to understand biochemistry on a hormonal level, you will never fully
understand it.
Weight management is not just calories in, calories out.
This blog is not designed to give you all the answers you
need to lose the weight you desire. This is not a concise weight loss plan. This
is just a basis of information for you to take to your health care provider to
discuss your goals and hopefully they will get you on a winning program.
This blog is here to help.
I am writing about two of the most currently researched
hormones in regard to weight management, Leptin and Ghrelin. These two play a
vital role in the maintenance of weight and appetite. There are many more hormones
involved in the process of weight management, so to get the full story of what I
am discussing, you should wait for further blogs, or the release of my first
book, The 5:1 Weight Loss System.
The concept of leptin and ghrelin is very complex, confusing,
and maybe not fully understood by any scientific practitioner. There have been
countless amounts of research of these vital hormones, and many theories have
been created. Sometimes, the concept can even confuse the person writing about
these two hormones. I follow Dr. Mercola and a lot of his writing is spot on.
But as you can read here in an article about sleep deprivation and overweight
children you will see that his writing is conflicting of itself.
There are studies that show that ghrelin is the master
hormone that regulates appetite, and in bariatric surgery, the majority of the
weight lost can be linked to the removal of part of the stomach, inhibiting the
body’s ability to produce ghrelin by association, decreasing the person’s
appetite, and helping them achieve satiety with less volume.As you can see, in Dr. Mercola’s writing, he states that
when children sleep more, they have benefits like lower levels of the hormone
leptin. Then, the next paragraph states that if you are sleep deprived, you
have decreased production of leptin??? This sounds very conflicting, right? Well
it gets worse.
Other studies that analyze the serum levels of ghrelin
showed that ghrelin levels are already decreased in populations with increased
body fat tissue, and increased in leaner individuals, because ghrelin is
responsible for helping the body eat less and decrease weight gain. So prior to
the bariatric surgery, the overall levels of ghrelin are decreased in
comparison to a leaner individual who isn’t a candidate for bariatric surgery.
(Huh?)
Some studies show that weight loss can spike ghrelin levels
in the body, trying to encourage weight gain while another study states that
regaining weight after diet induced weight loss can be seen in patients with
high leptin levels and low ghrelin. (Face palm)
I can go as deep as to discuss how ghrelin and leptin are
related to insulin, and studies show that ghrelin inhibit the production of
insulin, which is both bad and good, and insulin increases the secretion
of leptin, which again, can be bad and good. Insulin promotes weight gain,
but studies show that leptin promotes weight loss. (Pull my hair out)
I have put a list of cited articles at the end of this paper.
You can read through them if you want, but trust me, the more you read about
these two hormones, the more confused you are going to get. Heck, I am already
confused about what I just wrote to give you a brief description of the research
of these two complex hormones.
So to be clear and
concise, the general rule throughout the majority of research studies and
physician beliefs of ghrelin is that it is the unwanted hormone because it
drives hunger, and Leptin is desired to be elevated in the blood stream, and
the only real problem with leptin is that you become resistant to its affects,
similar to insulin.
There is a general concept that I want you to understand
about this subject...
This article is my
interpretation of many clinical studies of the two complex hormones of
leptin and ghrelin. You can read any amount of research and satisfy your own
craving for knowledge if you wish.
You can read Dr. Mercola, Hyman, or any other physician that
has read the same research and tried to make some sense out of how Leptin is
GOOD, and Ghrelin is BAD and how you don’t want to become “Leptin Resistant.”
I have read many different articles about this subject, and
they ALL have one very specific thing in common..
THEY ARE ALL WRONG!?!?!?!
Rephrase, they have very accurate research, but the interpretations are
all backwards.
Again, this is my interpretation. If you do not agree with
my fundamental principles of these hormones, feel free to comment.
Chicken and egg scenario.
Ghrelin is not the enemy or the savior. Neither is leptin.
These two hormones can neither be praised nor scorned, they are just trying to
do their job and they each get in the way of one another.
To describe the properties of these two hormones, would take
a six page article in itself, so to be short and clear, I just want you to
understand the basics of these two.
Ghrelin is a hormone that is released from the stomach and
is linked to the impulse of hunger. Leptin is released from fat cells and
linked to the feeling of satiety or fullness. These two hormones are inhibitory
of each other, meaning, when one is elevated in the body, the other is
decreased. Meaning, if you have severe hunger your stomach has produced a lot
of ghrelin, and this will inhibit your fat cells from releasing any leptin.
It is easy to relate to ghrelin being bad, because it
promotes hunger, and it is easy to promote the praise of leptin because it
shuts off hunger... SORRY, scratch that way of thinking.
The most relevant studies have been made about the two hormones,
but just like any scientific experiment, you first need to have a hypothesis,
then experiment to prove whether it was right or wrong. The vast majority of
these studies had the principle hypothesis of how leptin is good and achieves satiety
and how ghrelin is bad and makes us fat.
First, you have to look at the propaganda involved in the
production of these studies. Who is going to benefit from the positive outcome
of the findings. Bariatric surgical centers want you to believe that ghrelin is
the devil, and if you get this surgery you will reduce the production of
ghrelin and give you health. Hormone clinics want you to believe that leptin is
good, but you just have a hormone imbalance that needs addressed to decrease
your chances of developing leptin resistance.
I have no bias to why people gain wait, or why it is so
difficult to lose it. I have no ties to any clinic other than New-Start Health
Center, so I only benefit from knowing the truth, and getting positive results
in regard to weight loss. I have no reason to jump on any bandwagon with
physicians that write beautiful articles discussing what they have found by
reading research. To me, regurgitating the information from a research study is
doing nothing more than become a proponent of whoever wanted the study performed.
Instead, I think outside the box, design my own opinion, with no ulterior
motive, unless you consider getting unparalleled results inside of my clinic,
motive.
Now I have procrastinated long enough from giving you the
goods that I promised, so here goes.
Start by thinking this, ghrelin is supposed to be high, and leptin is
supposed to be low in the body.
Do not concern yourself with leptin resistance, or elevated
ghrelin will make you hungry and overeat. Instead understand that leptin is
produced from fat cells. If you have excess fat cells, you will produce excess
leptin, seem simple enough?
With each article that I have read, it is clear that when
you lose weight, leptin levels drop dramatically, and ghrelin levels increase.
The reason for this is that ghrelin is the master hormone regulator of your
body weight, but more importantly your, LEAN BODY MASS. Your body does not want
to experience any radical changes in your lean body mass because it sees this
as stress on the body and will put you into starvation mode. When you are in
starvation mode, your metabolism will slow down and further the problem. Dieting often results in us under eating the
adequate amount of calories, and when this happens, your starvation mode, or
natural preservation, system in the body will maintain your fat cell stores of
energy, and you will start to break down your muscles for energy.
Unfortunately, when you see the scale moving in a downward direction, this is
bad, because you are decreasing your muscle mass, decreasing your lean body
mass, and decreasing your resting metabolic rate (RMR). The RMR is your body’s
ability to burn calories at rest. The only way to affect this is to alter your
lean body mass. As you can see, altering your RMR, or altering your lean body
mass will alter your ghrelin.
So what does ghrelin
want?
The average American gains weight very slowly and steadily.
If you were to gain 1-4 pounds a year, the body will not register this as a
major insult to the body, so what happens is ghrelin levels are reduced ever so
slowly and fat content rises. With the rising fat cells, more leptin will be
produced. So according to a clinical study, overweight people have a lower
level of ghrelin, and a higher level of leptin in regard to leaner individuals
will make sense.
Ghrelin is satisfied when your lean body mass does not
change, so when you sit at a desk all day and do nothing to promote muscle mass
increase, your lean body mass will stay the same. Your fat content will grow
and grow, but you will have no change to your muscles or organ structures. Ghrelin
levels must go down, because as I stated before, the two hormones are
inhibitory of each other. If you put on fat mass, and produce more leptin, your
body’s natural reaction is to decrease the release of ghrelin.
Leptin resistance is the
new fad reasoning for this phenomenon of elevated levels of leptin and is
compared to insulin resistance.
I have to agree, and as promised I am going to stay on track
of talking about leptin and ghrelin without soapboxing about insulin, but I have
to state this.
Leptin resistance and insulin resistance are very similar.
Most clinical studies of insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes have a very
specific bias and principle that is also BACKWARDS.
There is nothing wrong with your insulin, you just have too
much of it that makes you resistant. You have too much of it because you have
eating too much sugar. This is the same as leptin. There is nothing wrong with
your leptin that causes resistance, you just have too much of it which
solidifies my principle thinking..
Start by thinking this, ghrelin is supposed to be high, and leptin is
supposed to be low in the body.
Lets get back to the point.
We are all interested in how I make sense of weight loss and
these two complex hormones.
Well here goes, the only way to effectively lose weight and
maintain the new weight, is to satisfy my principle thinking of these two
hormones, elevate ghrelin, and decrease leptin.
Maybe you need more
convincing of this principle.
It is impossible to lose weight with elevated insulin levels
in the body, instead you need insulin levels low and elevated glucagon levels.
Glucagon is the opposite of insulin, it removed energy from fat cells instead
of storing it.
Well guess what hormone inhibits the release of insulin and
promotes the release of glucagon?
Ghrelin, good ole ghrelin.
So back to the principles, you want elevated ghrelin because
it will inhibit the release of insulin and promote the release of the fat
burning hormone, glucagon.
Elevated insulin levels increase the release of leptin. Elevated
insulin inhibits glucagon. Can you see what I mean?
IF you need this in more detail, I will explain it more
clearly in my book, The 5:1 Weight
Loss System.
Why weight loss is
not easy?
You can not just eat less, exercise, and expect to lose
weight properly. Again, this concept will reduce your lean body mass and make
your ghrelin levels spike to cause the yo-yo dieting effect.
It is important to stop focusing on the scale to measure
your weight loss. Instead, look into fat loss, or the conversion of fat tissue
into muscle tissue. Typically, on a clean diet and exercise regimen, you shouldn’t
even see a loss of weight for a few weeks. Adjusting your macronutrients will
allow you to start to lose fat tissue, but you have to make sure you eat adequate
proteins and fats to maintain your lean body mass.
Under eating causes a whole cascade of events, including a
decrease in the function of thy thyroid. You will see your body temperature
drop, and you metabolic function will suffer.
In conclusion:
The main concept that I want you to take from this writing
is that the common fad about weight management and the issues inhibiting weight
loss are typically in error. Leptin resistance is not as much of an issue as it
is portrayed. You have to lose weight accurately, without crash dieting to
maintain your lean body mass, and if you lose it, you will spike your ghrelin
and start the cycle of yo-yo dieting. Under eating, over exercising, and
starvation can all cause this negative release of the hormone ghrelin.
You need to have elevated ghrelin when losing weight to
inhibit the release of insulin, and spike the release of glucagon. If your
leptin remains high, and in obese people, it is, you will have elevated
insulin, estrogen, and other weight storing hormones.
Do not worry about leptin resistance, because with effective
weight loss, your leptin levels plummet and your metabolism will not fall into
the trenches. You will maintain your energy levels, and as the weight comes off
you will even see an improvement.
Stay Tuned for more on the rest of the hormones involved in
this ever so complex concept, and remember, health is not a destination, it is
a journey.
Dr. Moz
Visit www.NewStartHealthCenter.com TODAY!
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